Steel Sentinels
Steel Sentinels is a strategy game on FunOrb. It was a much-discussed topic on the forums before its release on 13 August 2009. In the game, players choose from various components to build their robot, or sentinel. They evaluate statistics such as shielding, weight, weapon capabilities, and degrees of freedom. Weapons are selected based on reloading speed, range, damage, area of effect, energy usage, and additional effects. Modules are selected to give the sentinel protection and shielding, maneuverability, extra power, or more complex effects. The player may choose to head out into a multiplayer game and earn solarite, which is used to buy more complex and powerful components, or to head into campaign mode and steal technology from the enemies. Gameplay Basic Controls System 1 * Movement ** A - move left ** D - move right ** S - stop moving * Jumping ** W - hold and aim jump with mouse; release to jump ** SHIFT - hold to aim jump with mouse; press SHIFT + LMB to jump * Weapons ** Q,E - switch weapons ** LMB - fire weapon towards mouse pointer * Camera ** Hold RMB and drag mouse - move camera ** V - center camera on your sentinel System 2 * Movement ** Z - move left ** C - move right ** X - stop moving * Jumping ** RMB - hold and aim jump with mouse; release to jump ** SHIFT - hold to aim jump with mouse; press SHIFT + LMB to jump * Weapons ** Q,E - select current weapon ** LMB - fire weapon towards mouse pointer * Camera ** W,A,S,D or cursor keys - move camera ** V - center camera on your sentinel For further information, play the first tutorial. Advanced Controls * ALT + LMB - Target lock enemy (requires the targeter module) ** ALT + RMB - Drop target lock * F - Melee (requires the thunder-blade arm, storm-hammer arm or fusion-blade arm) * F1 - Fire EMP bomb (requires the EMP bomb module) * F2 - Teleport (requires the EDD module) * backtick (`) - show sentinel preview screen Campaigns Campaigns are a series of battles against computer controlled opponents. The player is given a sentinel for each mission, which cannot be customized. Sentinel parts, modules, and weapons can be unlocked after you finish each mission. When you finish enough missions, you will unlock a sentinel. Italics = Members only Times given are the maximum known time needed to achieve the star for that level. If you have a time that is greater than those mentioned, please amend the table. Bold times are 100% certain. Ranks The mission briefings all address the player with a particular rank, starting with "recruit", which advances as you complete more missions. 1. Recruit 2. Cadet 3. Ensign 4. Commander 5. Captain 6. Major 7. Colonel 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. Sentinels Sentinels are player controlled machines, used to destroy the enemy. Sentinels can be modified in the Configuration screen. More powerful sentinels and better equipment can be unlocked in two ways - by completing certain campaign missions, and by buying them with solarite, which is earned in multiplayer games. There are 12 sentinels, 6 of which are available to free players. The Default Sentinels Custom Sentinels Custom Sentinels can be created from the components listed here Maps Steel Sentinels features 6 distinct maps to fight on. Free for all Maps On these maps, there are no teams. The player with the most points when the game ends wins. Sudden Death is declared when any player reaches 1,000 points in a Standard game, or 2,000 points in an Advanced game. After sudden death is declared, if you die you will not respawn. Any sentinels respawning (dropping from the sky) when Sudden Death is declared will deploy as usual. The game ends when there is either only one player left after Sudden Death, or a certain amount of time after Sudden Death begins. War Zone (Free to Play) Standard Free-For-All action and available to Free Players. This map always has at least four players, two or more humans and the rest computer-controlled. Drones will also spawn from the ends of the map. Ba'al Lord of Ilolia may also spawn on this map. Ba'al is a gold coloured Babel with much higher tech than is available to players. The requirements for Ba'al to appear are that the players have to be "worthy" - the exact nature of this is unknown, but may relate to all players having relatively high scores. He can be faced many times, however players have to "reprove" their "worthiness" each time. Mod Thomas Previously, if Ba'al was going to appear in a map, the border around the list of players and their scores will be yellow instead of black; now players have to play through the game and see if he appears. When he dies, he says one of various declarations (including "Destiny!" and "I thirst!") in golden text. He has other declarations if he wins the battle. If Ba'al gets 2000 points, Sudden Death will be activated. Killing Ba'al grants the "Boss killer" tag, and the Conqueror achievement. During Hallowe'en, the map is darker, and the usual Warzone drones are replaced with flying bats-drones. These are similar to other drones, but they give points when killed, and there is a bat-kill counter in the in-game scoreboard. There is a Hallowe'en achievement for winning 13 "Most bat kills" tags. A large number of bat-drones are spawned at the onset of Sudden Death. City (Free to Play) Free for all, and available to Free Players. Large buildings stop long distance shots unless you fire over them. There is a power up called the MGFN which slowly increases your score over time at a rate of around 3 points per second. When the sentinel carrying the MGFN is killed, the power-up is dropped and anyone may collect it. If a sentinel has a Walton Mirage Device while holding the MGFN, it will be visible on the main screen but not the minimap. In a match with an odd number of people, the middle one will spawn directly on top of the MGFN power-up. Moon (Free to Play) Free for all, and available to Free Players. There is a crashed ship in the center of the map, which is surrounded by a large energy shield. The edge of the shield absorbs energy and EMP damage (but not damage from energised kinetic weapons). Players gain points at a rate of about 1 a second while they are inside this shield. If a sentinel has a Walton Mirage Device while inside the shield, it will be visible on the main screen but not the minimap. Upon hitting the shield, power-ups will disintegrate. Like in fleet, there is decreased gravity on this map, so projectiles will go farther, you will jump and thrust higher, etc. Team Maps In team games, the team with the highest score at the end of the game wins. The team's score is the sum of the scores of all the players on that team. Damaging teammates will cause you to lose points. Lost Planet (Free to Play) This team game has a timer on the upper right corner of the screen. It goes from green to yellow to orange to red over ten minutes. At the end, a spaceship will crash into the battlefield, killing everyone and ending the game. This is called 'Calamity'.While the timer is in the green section, nothing special happens, but further into the game spaceships will fly overhead and shoot lasers, plasma, and missiles at the ground. They can also crash into any sentinels when they are flying too high. NOTE: It is possible to avoid the Calamity by holding the 'Impervious' power up. This will give you the 'Sole Survivor' tag if no one else survives as well. You can also fly or jump to one of the top corners (The one that the ship doesn't crash from) and avoid the Calamity, but it is unlikely that this will work. However, the Calamity will still end the game. If a sentinel has lost half of its health or more to a player, the Calamity will destroy them but a kill message will be displayed saying that the player was killed by the one that took over half of their health. It is also possible, even though highly improbable, to acquire the "Sole Survivor" tag without the "Impervious" power-up, but it requires you to kill the last bot right before the ship hits the ground, meaning you must manage to kill the target relying only on the mini-map (since the screen locks to the falling ship), have a Targeter module locked on your opponent while firing targetable weapons, or just have lots of luck. You can also hold 'v' on your keyboard, letting you be able to focus on your sentinel than the ship, thus being able to kill the last opponent sentinel. Star Fleet (Free to Play) This team game is set in space. Each team starts on a spaceship on opposite ends of the map, with asteroids in between. Any player that dies will respawn on her team's cruiser. This is a Capture-the-Flag game. Reaching to the other team's ship then back without dying will cause your ship to shoot an "Enormo-Laser" at the other ship. The first hit will take out the cruiser's energy shield. Three hits are required to destroy a cruiser, which leaves that team's players unable to respawn. The game ends when all players from one team are destroyed and unable to respawn. When a cruiser is destroyed, the other team's players are awarded 1000 points each, but the winning team is the team with the most points at the end, regardless of which cruiser was destroyed. NOTES: * Each time someone energises their ship, all other energised sentinels on that team become unenergised. * The ships slowly move closer together. When they are close enough, both ships will begin to fire automatically. If one ship has been hit more than the other it will be destroyed by this. If both are equal then both may be destroyed. This is way that the game will end if there are no energises (unless one team resigns). The team with the most points will shoot first by a margin of around 5 seconds. * Asteroids are destroyed by the ships as they move. This can significantly change the availability of blind spots and alter weapon reach. A player that is standing to close to an exploding asteroid will receive the explosive damage equivalent to a Destructor Rocket. * After one cruiser has been destroyed, the remaining cruiser's Enormo-Laser will target any remaining opponents. It deals damage of a similar magnitude to the nuke. The Enormo-Laser will home in on the targeted player, even if that player carries a Walton Mirage Device. * Due to the fact that the Enormo-Laser will follow the player wherever they go, it is possible for the player to hide on the remaining cruiser so that the laser reaches them, it will also damage the cruiser. The cruiser can only be destroyed if it has been hit twice already, or if you have a sentinel that can survive a hit from the Enormo-Laser. You can also hide under the back part of the cruiser, thrusting to stay up. * The back-tick (`) is often used to view the other team's sentinels, as most ordinance weapons (The most common weapons in fleet) are visible on medium to high screen resolutions. Co-op (Members Only) This map is only available in unrated games but any tags you gain here ARE recorded and the Solarite gain is that of a rated game. Two players work together to fight increasingly difficult waves of AI, ending after 42 waves, where you confront a single Babel. Destroying every wave and beating this campaign will give you the 'And It Costs How Much' achievement, and unlocks the right to purchase the Golem Death Nuke for 1,000 Solarite Cubes. Relying heavily on energy usage is not recommended. NOTE: You will earn more points by having a very low tech value. Tags Tags are awarded for fulfilling certain requirements during a game. Players who resign do not receive any tags. Tags obtained in rated and co-op games are saved, those obtained in unrated are not. After 250 of one tag is collected in Rated games, gaining that tag is no longer recorded in the Achievements menu; instead, the counter simply reads "MAX". All tags, exception made to the "Most kills With Atomics" tag, are available for free players. Epitaphs Achievements Trivia Technology values *The minimum technology value is 400. *The maximum technology value for non-members is 6100. *The maximum technology value for members is 31674. *The minimum technology value to be classified 'Advanced' is 6112 Bugs *When Steel Sentinels first came out, you could see the "Diamond Sentinel" achievement if you hovered over a correct spot. It was fixed around a week later. *Aeruak Stabilisers used to be referred to as Air Stabilisers on redundancy warning messages. *The Stormhammer arm used to be referred to as the doom-hammer in the chassis blurb. *When Steel Sentinels first came out, non-members could play advanced games by leaving the technology level setting unchanged. When it was changed to a different technology level, however, the option to play advanced games was nullified unless you started up a new game. This was soon fixed. *If you go into a campaign mission, then into the test field, the test field will stretch. The test field will go back to normal if you go on a training campaign map, or you go out and back into the game. *It was occasional that free players utilized the "asteroid" glitch in fleet mode. It was made possible by flying under the rock underneath a spot, and soon just "phasing" into the top of the rock, this has yet to be fixed. Names *"Aquila" is the Latin word for eagle. It was also the name of the first small battlefield drone developed in the US in the 1970s *"Bertha" refers to the Big Bertha, a cannon used by the German army in WWI. *"Valhalla" is an eternal feast where Viking heroes who died in battle were taken *"Babel" was the Hebrew name for a city with a symbolic tower in a Biblical story; a fictional fish (invented by Douglas Adams) named after the story; and other miscellany named after the fish. *"Ba'al" is a Semitic word for "Lord", which was used to refer to certain gods or demons. "Ba'al is also a monster i the game Diablo 2 Lord of Destruction where he is the lord of destruction. *"Walton Mirage Device", Ernest Walton was an Irish Nobel-prizewinning physicist that worked with smashing atoms into smaller pieces. Walton lived in Cambridge (where Jagex are located). *"MGFN" is an abbreviation for 'MacGuffin', a term used by Hitchcock to describe an element that is required for the plot, but whose exact nature is irrelevant. *"Rapier" is a surface-to-air missile system developed for the British Army and Air Force. Other *Steel Sentinels is currently the on FunOrb. *When released, only 31 tags were known despite there being 32 tag slots available. :When the game was released, it was speculated that the 32nd slot was preserved for future use, whether it may be a seasonal-only tag or upcoming expansion, or even a next-page button for loads more tags. Others speculated that it may just have been because Jagex intended only 31 tags, and because the number of slots has to be even, that last slot is there. The Hallowe'en 2009 event brought the 32nd tag: Most Bat kills. *This is the fourth game with custom cursors. *The blue bar at the right of the title screen will fill up based on how many achievements you have and how many sentinel parts you have engineered. As it increases, the icon next to your name in the multiplayer lobby is enhanced. There are 10 different icons, and for every 10% increment that you complete this bar, your lobby icon will level up, and you must max out the bar (that means every achievement and part) to gain the highest one. *Mod Thomas has stated that there is a Dune reference somewhere in the game.Funorb Forum It has yet to be reported. *It is possible to stack the bonuses of some modules even after the bottom detail bars are filled (e.g. shields, energy storage and generators). __NOWYSIWYG__ Category:All Games Category:Strategy Games Category:Multi-player Games Category:Games with achievements with duplicate names